A Gate at the Stairs (Vintage Contemporaries)

Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner AwardFinalist for the Orange Prize for FictionChosen as a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star, Financial Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Real Simple

Twenty-year-old Tassie Keltjin, the daughter of a gentleman farmer, has come to a university town as a student. When she takes a job as a part-time nanny for a mysterious and glamorous family, she finds herself drawn deeper into their world and forever changed. Told through the eyes of this memorable narrator, A Gate at the Stairs is a piercing novel of race, class, love, and war in America.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

Amazon Best of the Month, September 2009: Lorrie Moore's people are jokesters, wisenheimers. They hold the world, and the language used to describe it, a little off to the side, where they can turn it around and, if not figure it out, at least find something funny to say about it, which, often, is not quite enough. It's been 11 years since her last book, 15 since her last novel, but A Gate at the Stairs is vintage Moore: brittly witty and lurkingly dark, the portrait of a Midwest college town through the eyes of Tassie Keltjin, a student from the country whose mind has been lit up by learning but who spends nearly all this story out of class, as a nanny for a couple who have adopted a toddler. Tassie's a bit of a toddler herself (and an ideal narrator because of it), testing the world as if through her teeth, and she finds the world stranger and more deeply wounded the more she learns of it. Her investigations make A Gate at the Stairs sad, hilarious, and thrillingly necessary. --Tom Nissley

About the Author:

Lorrie Moore is the author of the story collections Birds of America, Like Life, and Self-Help and the novels Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? and Anagrams. Her work has won honors from the Lannan Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish Times International Prize for Fiction, the Rea Award for the Short Story, and the PEN/Malamud Award. She is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Book Description Vintage, 2010. Book Condition: New. Brand New, Unread Copy in Perfect Condition. A+ Customer Service! Summary: "The admired fiction writer Lorrie Moore has a unique gift. She can be screamingly funny-and in the very next paragraph, able to convey terrible grief. . . Her language is dazzling." -Deirdre Donahue,USA TODAY "[A GATE AT THE STAIRS] is a gift." -Philadelphia Inquirer ". . . this is the kind of book that sneaks up on you: Moore charms with her humor and knack for the small but telling detail, slowly builds a sense of investment in her frustratingly passive protagonist, then unleashes an unexpected emotional wallop at the end." -Patrick Condon, Associated Press "Moore's penetrating and singular voice as a writer is one I could listen to for years and years." -Maureen Corrigan, NPR'sFresh Air "Moore is such a bright, witty writer. . . A Gate at the Stairsis Moore's first novel in 15 years, which means a whole generation of readers has grown up thinking of her only as one of the country's best short-story writers. Get ready to expand your sense of what she-and a novel-can do. . . what's so endearing is Moore's ability to tempt us with humor into the surreal boundaries of human experience, those strange decisions that make no sense out of context, the things we can't believe anyone would do. The novel's climax takes us right into the disorienting logic of grief for a scene that's both horrifying and tender, a grotesque violation of taboos that's entirely forgivable and heartbreaking." -Ron Charles,The Washington Post "A powerful, compassionate novel, both funny and tragic, and always beautifully told." -Malcolm Jones,Newsweek "Moore may be, exactly, the most irresistible contemporary American writer: brainy, humane, unpretentious and warm; seemingly effortlessly lyrical; Lily-Tomlin-funny. Most of all, Moore is capable of enlisting not just our sympathies but our sorrows. . . This book plumbs deep because it is anchored deep. . . On finishingA Gate at the StairsI turned to the reader nearest to me and made me swear to read it immediately." -Jonathan Lethem,The New York Times Book Review(cover review) "A Gate at the Stairshas the power to make you laugh and cry, sometimes almost simultaneously, and its wonderful, heartbreaking conclusion reminds us that no matter how we suffer, we still can reach a peculiarly human state of grace." -Connie Ogle,Miami Herald "Her most powerful book yet. . . An indelible portrait of a young woman coming of age in the Midwest in the year after 9/11. . . The novel explores, with enormous emotional precision, the limitations and insufficiencies of love, and the loneliness that haunts even the most doting of families. . . Most memorably, in this haunting novel Ms. Moore gives us stark, melancholy glimpses into her characters' hearts, mapping their fears and disappointments, their hidden yearnings and their more evanescent efforts to hold on to their dreams in the face of unfurling misfortune." -Michiko Kakutani,The New York Times "Fifty years from now, it may well turn out that the work of very few American writers has as much to say about what it means to be alive in our time as that of Lorrie Moore." -Jonathan Dee,Harper's Magazine "With dizzying wit and acute intelligence, Lorrie Moore's novelA Gate at the Stairsfeatures a Midwestern coed turned part-time nanny drawn into the full-time drama of a family who all demand babysitting." -Vanity Fair "The ending. Bookseller Inventory # ABE_book_new_0375708464

Book Description Vintage. PAPERBACK. Book Condition: New. 0375708464 FREE Shipping for 1st Class/Media Rate! Clean, unmarked copy. In great shape! I can send expedited rate if you chose; otherwise it will promptly be sent via media rate. Got any questions? Email me; I'm happy to help!We recommend Expedited Shipping to get your book as fast as possible. Bookseller Inventory # DAN22-7898679

Book Description Random House USA Inc, United States, 2010. Paperback. Book Condition: New. Reprint. 171 x 108 mm. Language: English . Brand New Book. Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist for the Orange Prize for Fiction Chosen as a Best Book of the Yearby The New York Times Book Review, TheWashington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star, Financial Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Real Simple Twenty-year-old Tassie Keltjin, the daughter of a gentleman farmer, has come to a university town as a student. When she takes a job as a part-time nanny for a mysterious and glamorous family, she finds herself drawn deeper into their world and forever changed. Told through the eyes of this memorable narrator, A Gate at the Stairs is a piercing novel of race, class, love, and war in America. Bookseller Inventory # AAS9780375708466

Book Description Random House USA Inc, United States, 2010. Paperback. Book Condition: New. Reprint. 171 x 108 mm. Language: English . Brand New Book. Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist for the Orange Prize for Fiction Chosen as a Best Book of the Yearby The New York Times Book Review, TheWashington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star, Financial Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Real Simple Twenty-year-old Tassie Keltjin, the daughter of a gentleman farmer, has come to a university town as a student. When she takes a job as a part-time nanny for a mysterious and glamorous family, she finds herself drawn deeper into their world and forever changed. Told through the eyes of this memorable narrator, A Gate at the Stairs is a piercing novel of race, class, love, and war in America. Bookseller Inventory # AAS9780375708466